It’s launch day! Approximately 2.5 years in the making, I’m beyond thrilled to have “You Can Adopt Without Debt: Creative Ways to Cover the Cost of Adoption” finally available!!

The book was written with one goal in mind – to equip families wanting to adopt with the tools and ideas to make their dream come true and do it without going into debt. Unlike my previous book,” You Can Adopt Without Debt” is designed to even help someone just beginning to think about adoption. It explores the different kinds of adoptions, gives pros and cons to each, guides you through choosing an agency, what to expect during the process and the wide range of costs.

Then, of course, it delves into the nitty gritty of paying for adoption should you choose private domestic or international adoption. (Adoption from the foster care system is generally free or VERY inexpensive.)

It’s filled with tons of practical fundraising and income-producing ideas with varying levels of time commitment and return. (Don’t let the word “fundraising” scare you off – you don’t necessarily need to flat out ask for donations as you’ll see.)

(A Table of Contents is at the end of the post so you can see all the information we crammed in!)

SPREAD THE WORD: I would love it if you would help spread the word about the book! I’m giving away 3 signed copies and there are lots of ways to enter at the bottom of the post!!

BOOK HUNT: Of course the book is available at all the major online retailers BUT I’m wondering where else it’s going to be. The first person to find it in a brick ‘n mortar store and take a selfie in front of shelf it’s on wins a special awesome prize from me. (Email pic to julieATjuliegummDOTcom.)

As the leaves fall from the trees here in beautiful Northwest Arkansas, we have passed a major step in our season of change.

Our Phoenix house is sold. While it seemed like forever, in all it only took 10 weeks to get a buyer. And interestingly enough the day we accepted the offer our realtor got another call from someone who wanted to make an offer. Sometimes God provides in abundance.

So now we can turn our attention to house hunting. We love living in a small town but that does mean the inventory is somewhat limited. Especially for a family our size. While we don’t need a mansion by any means we do need space – and bathrooms. Living in a two bathroom house the last 6 months has provided some interesting challenges. That half bath makes a huge difference in the morning routine of getting 5 people out of the house.

So it may take us awhile.

God provided an amazing rental house for us and of course, we are truly grateful. Yet to be honest I am struggling with patience.

The waiting.

I don’t do that so well.

It was the hardest part of our adoption. Waiting. Giving control over to God. Of course it is also where I learned the most, and where I grew as a person.

I think maybe God thinks I need a refresher course.

So we wait. For the right house, the right neighborhood, the right price.

I know God will provide something amazing and perfect. It is fairly easy for me to have faith in that.

Seem a little early to be thinking about Christmas? It’s not, I promise!

The holidays offer some great adoption fundraiser ideas and I especially love this one from the Teply family. They added Santa to their pancake breakfast fundraiser!

A pancake breakfast fundraiser is a great idea in itself. Families have made several thousand dollars with this idea (like the Burden family). But give a mom a chance to get her kids pictures with Santa WITHOUT going to the mall and you have hit the jackpot!! No mom wants to stand in line for an hour (or more) for the over-priced photo in which their child may or may not look totally terrified of the strange man in the beard.

The Teply’s had a great crew of friends helping them out with their fundraiser which was held at their church. They charged a per plate price of $7 for adults and $3 for kids for pancakes, sausage and a drink and then had a yummy looking topping bar!

Pictures with Santa were offered for a donation and did not require a breakfast purchase. The Teply’s asked friends and family and eventually found their Santa who generously donated his services for free. (They thanked him with a restaurant gift card.) If you’ve got someone who looks the part you could also rent a Santa Suit through a costume shop.

Someone with some good basic photography skills and a good point and shoot camera is fine for the pictures. They let people choose if they wanted to pick up printed pictures the next week at church or have the photos emailed to them. Most people chose to have the photo emailed.

They advertised the even in the local paper and on the back of their church bulletin. They also left flyers at local churches (great if you can get the flyers to the youth minister to give to parents). Jennifer also left half-sheet flyers at the restaurants that donated items and pinned flyers up on bulletin boards at the supermarkets. And of course, an event was created on Facebook. She suggested trying to distribute flyers at schools and daycare centers as well.

Around 75 people attended and the Teply’s made $1,722 with their fundraiser!! You can see some photos and read more about it on the Teply’s blog.